Offshore wind energy is

a renewable source of great potential

Offshore wind energy is undergoing rapid development, with ever more demanding requirements and potential for its implementation than onshore wind power.

Advantages

Improved load factor

Turbines and farms of greater capacity

Greater areas of availability

No visual impact or noise restrictions

Requirements

New technological challenges

Problems of grid connection

Installation and O & M costs

Need for new contractual models to reduce risk and CAPEX

These differences are reflected in greater investment and a different cost structure in offshore wind energy.

Growth in accumulated capacity (GW) of offshore wind energy worldwide

focusing on Europe

as the beginning of its worldwide expansion

Installed wind power capacity by country 2013 (MW)

Thanks to developments in foundations, offshore parks are located in waters of greater depth and in areas more remote from the coast.

Currently, the average location of the 69 farms installed in Europe is at 16 metres of depth and 29 km from the coast (the majority being turbines fixed on the seabed using monopile gravity foundations).

The future lies in floating structures and other concepts, which will increase viability and profitability of offshore wind of coastlines with deeper waters.